Frank meanley



No. 748,629. PATENTED' JAN. 5, 1904, F. MEANLEY.

REVERSE MOTION FOR. STEAM ENGINES.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. e, 1902.

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By Q m I I Aftdmeys s. n n. ma Nupms PETERS 00., vHcTo-umc wAsnmcno h No. 748,629. I PATENTED JAN. 5, 1904. F. MEANLEY.

' I REVERSE MOTION FOR STEAM ENGINES.

APPLIOATIOK FILED MAR. 6, 1902.

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Attorneys UNITED STATES Patented January 5, 1904.

PATENT OFFICE.

REVERSE MOTION FOR STEAM-ENGINES.

SPECIFICATION formingpart of Letters Patent No. 748,629, dated January 5, 1904.

. Application filed March 6, 1902. Serial No. 97,014. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Beit known that I, FRANK MEANLEY, a subject of the King of Great Britain, residing at Mount Elgin, county of Oxford, Province of Ontario, Canada, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Reverse Motions for Steam-Engines; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to whichit appertains to make and use the same. I

My invention relates to a new and improved reverse motion for steam-engines, which is adapted to operate upon the eccentric mounted on the crank-shaft of the engine in such manner as to dispense with the double eccentric now in use and the Stephenson or other link, and it comprises means for reversing the position of the eccentric on the main shaft while the engine is in motion, if desirable, so as to completely throttle the engine while it is turning in one direction and subsequently to so operate the valve as to cause the engine to turn in the opposite direction.

One of the main objects of my present invention is to provide such an eccentric reverse motion as will present a strong and substantial arrangement, which cannot get out of order, which operates on mathematical principles, and which is easily operated from a single handle. By this invention the Zeuner diagram for the valve -motion will be a true circle and the eccentric will operate the valve in every position from full steamin one di rection to full steam in the other with mathematical exactness, as will be understood, although, as is well known, the diagram for the Stephenson link-motion is a very rough and irregular curve, which requires to be empirically constructed and has great limitations as to the pointsof admission, cut-off, release, and compression, as is well understood, and especially has the disadvantage of permitting the proper relation of these points of the cycle for only one direction of the engine. My present invention, on thecontrary,

not only dispenses with the cumbersome link and double -eccentric mechanism, together with the excessive friction necessitated thereby, but also permits of perfect regulation of the points of the cycleabove mentioned whether the engine be traveling in the forward or backward direction.

The principle of my invention consists in providing a diametral slot in the eccentric in which slides a rhomboidal collar mounted upon the shaft and sliding longitudinally thereon, the parallel sides of said collar being oblique to said shaft in such manner as to cause the position of the eccentric-sheave relative to the shaft to vary according to the position of said collar, the sheave being itself keyed upon said shaft by a flattened portion of the shaft on which the sheave is permitted to slide from side to side, although it is prevented from turning relatively to said shaft or from moving longitudinally thereon.

I have shown the preferred form of my improved reverse motion in the accompanying drawings, wherein Figurelis a plan view of an engine having my improved reverse motion, the latter being shown in position to move the engine in a lefthanded or counter-clockwise direction. Fig. 2 is a sectional elevation of the same on line 2 2 of Fig. 1, the reversing being removed. Fig. 3 is an end elevation of the same looking from the left of Fig. 1, the eccentric-motion being in this case in central or throttling position. Fig. 4= is a detail side elevation of the eccentric, showing the shaft and collar in cross-section. Fig. 5 isa perspective View of the two halves of the eccentricsheave. Fig.6 is a perspective detail of the collar. Figs. 7 and 8 are detail views showing the shaft in elevation and one-half of the eccentric-sheave mounted thereon in its two extreme positions, and Fig. 9 is a perspective detail of a portion of the shaft.

Similar reference-numerals denote similar parts in all of the figures'of the drawings.

The engine is shown as mounted upon a bed-plate l0 and comprises a frame 11, bolted to same by bolts 12. The frame 11 has mounted thereon a main cylinder 12' anda steam-chest 13 of the ordinary type. The piston-rod is shown at 14: and is provided with a cross-head 15, which reciprocates on a suitable slide-bar 16. The main shaft of the engine is shown at 17, having mounted thereon a fly-wheel 17 and is carried upon suitable pillow-blocks 18, mounted upon the bedplate, as shown, said shaft having a crank portion 19 and crank-pin 20, which is connected to the cross-head 15 by a connectingrod 21. The valve'- rod is shown at 22 extending into the steam-chest and operated by an eccentric 23, having a strap 24 thereon, which is connected to the valve-rod 22 by an eccentric-rod 25. The strap 24 is of the ordinary pattern and may be formed sectionally, as shown in the drawings, the sections being connected by bolts 26; but the sheave 23 is of a peculiar type, as will be seen by the following description. This sheave 23 is also formed in semicircular halves 23, each of which has at it its center a recess or gain 27, the edges 28 of the recesses being formed obliquely to adapt them to inclose and accurately fit a rhomboidal collar 29, which is adapted to slide in the slot formed by the recess 27 when the two halves of the sheave are bolted together. I preferably widen the sheave laterally around the edges of said recesses, so as to form flanges 30, by means of which the two halves are bolted together through suitable bolt-holes 31, through which bolts 32 pass, and these flanges further strengthen the eccentric and enable it to be turned by the shaft. The slot formed between the two cheeks of the recesses 27 is narrower than the diameter of the main shaft to enable it to fit over the flattened portion 33 and to be turned thereby, the thickness of this flattened portion being the same as that of the slot in the eccentric-sheave and of the collar 29. To further hold the two halves 23 of the sheave 23 in proper position, I may provide dowel-pins 34, one in each half,fitted in holes 35, formed in the opposite half of the sheave. The collar 29 consists, mainly, of two triangular oblique-edged plates 36, these two plates having their sides parallel and being separated from each other by the diameter of the shaft, which passes longitudinally between them, and they are united at their ends by suitable sleeves 37 and 38, which likewise embrace the shaft, so that when said collar is mounted on the shaft it slides easily back and forth in the sheave without lost motion. Now it will be seen that when the two halves of the eccentric-sheave 23 are both together over the flattened portion 33 of the shaft in the position shown in the drawings (see Figs. 4, 7, and 8) said sheave will have a side-to-side motion thereon, which gives it a variable eccentricity and causes the center of said sheave to lie on either side of the diameter of the main shaft, as desired, and, furthermore, when the collar 29 is likewise mounted in the slot formed by the recesses 27, as shown in the same figures, the longitudinal motion of the collar 29 along the shaft will cause the sheave to be moved from side to side in the manner above referred to and will thus cause the eccentricity to be reversed relatively to the crank. To accomplish this effect, the sleeve 38 is formed with two projecting flanges 39 and 40, forming between them an annular recess 41, in which is loosely mounted a suitable collar 42, having projecting pivotlugs 43 for a hand-lever 44, which is pivoted at 45 to a bracket 46, attached to the pillowblock or other stationary part of the engine, and the hand-lever may appropriately project beyond its pivot upon the lugs 43 to form a handle 47, and it is held in position by a notched quadrant 48, in the notches of which engages the spring-bolt 49, which may be drawn back by a suitable lever 50, pivoted at 51 to the handle of the lever 44. Now it will be understood that when the handle 47 is moved into the position shown in Fig. 1 of the drawings the collar 29 will be slid endwise along the shaft and will raise the eccentricsheave 23 into the position shown in Fig. 7, thus causing the engine to rotate in a given direction, while when the handle 47 is swung to the opposite side of the quadrant 48 the collar 29 is drawn backwardly and the sheave 23 moved diametrically across the shaft, so

that the engine will now rotate in the opposite direction. In the mean positionthat is to say, when the bolt 49 rests in the central .notch of the quadrant 48-it will be understood that the sheave 23 will be in the position shown in Figs. 3 and 4that is to say, its center will coincide with the center line of the shaft, so that the eccentric-strap will now remain immovable upon rotation of the engine-and the valve being in its center position both ports will be covered and steam will be completely out off, thus serving as a complete throttle. It will thus be seen that complete control of the engine can be had and much or little steam admitted to proceed in either direction, as desired, while preserving the proper relation of the points of admission,

cut-off, &c., as hereinbefore specified.

The great advantage of this invention over the usual double eccentric connected by a link is that the operator not having to move the weight of this link and attachments on the end of the reversing-lever can more easily reverse the engine, and, further, the reverse being directly on the main shaft is stronger and more efiective than it can be on an arrangement half-way between the main shaft and the steam-chest. These, combined with the other advantages herein set forth, will be readily appreciated by steam engineers and others skilled in the art from the above description.

Changes within the scope of the following claims may be made in the form and construction of the parts without departing from the spirit of my invention, and I desire it to be understood, therefore, that I reserve the right to make such modifications in the form and dimensions as will be apparent to those skilled in the art.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, isv 1. A reversing-gear for a steam-engine comprising a main shaft having transversely- IIO disposed flattened portions, forming a keyslot for securing the sheave against improper movement, an eccentric-sheave having a diametrical slot therein mounted on said flattened portions of the main shaft and adapted to be turned thereby and to reciprocate transversely of the latter, and also prevented by said flattened portions from lateral movement, a rhomboidal collar mounted on the shaft and in said slot, and means for moving the said collar longitudinally of said shaft.

2. A reversing-gear for a steam-engine comprising a main shaft having transverselydisposed flattened portions, forming a keyseat for securing the sheave against improper movement, an eccentricsheave formed in two semicircular halves each having a slot therein and mounted on said flattened portions of the shaft and adapted to be turned thereby and also prevented from lateral movement thereby, a rhomboidal collar mounted loosely on the shaft in said slotted portion and means for reciprocating said collar 1on1 gitudinally of said shaft for altering the eccentricity of said sheave, in combination with an eccentric-strap on the sheave and suitable valve mechanism operated thereby.

3. A reversing-gear for a steam-engine comprising a main shaft having transverselydisposed flattened portions, forming a keyseat for securing the sheave against improper movement, an eccentric-sheave formed of two semicircular halves each having a diametrical recess or gain therein, flanges surrounding thesides of the gain and extending laterally from the sheave, means for bolting the two faces of said sheave together, a rhomboidal collar loosely mounted directly on the shaft without intervening parts and in the central slot of the sheave and means for reciprocating the collar longitudinally.

through the flanges for bolting the two faces of said sheave together, a rhomboidal collar loosely mounted directly on the shaft without intervening parts and in the central slot -of the sheave, and a lever pivoted on the stationary portion of the machine and operatively connected to said collar, whereby by operating the lever the engine may be throttled or reversed.

5. An improved reversing-gear fora steamengine comprising a main shaft having transversely-disposed flattened portions, a rhomboidal collar mounted loosely on the shaft of the same thickness as the diameter ofthe flattened portion of the shaft and having a grooved sleeve attached to one end-thereof, a collar loosely mounted in said sleeve, a re: versing-lever pivoted to said collar and also upon a stationary part of the engine, a slotted eccentric-sheave mounted to embrace said collar and the flattened portion of the shaft, and a strap mounted on said sheave and connected with the valve of the engine, whereby by operating said reversing-lever the admission of steam to the engine and its direction may be regulated.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my my hand in the presence of two witnesses.

FRANK MEANLEY.

' Witnesses:

JAs. V. BODWELL, HASON BoDWELL. 

